It's good to see that Polk County Schools Director Dr. James Jones has finally acknowledged -- not in these words -- that not enough has been done in Polk County schools to combat bullying.
But it's tragic and inexcusable that it took two teen suicides amid allegations of ongoing bullying to bring the acknowledgement.
It's also tragically tone-deaf and inexcusable that Jones' claimed actions -- implementing programs, creating a committee and protocols for dealing with bullying, initiating training and hiring a behaviorist -- were described in an emailed response Tuesday to a local critic who has written Jones several times since the first suicide in March, rather than in letters to Polk County parents or in a news release to the media or even on the school system's web site.
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* Mom of girl who committed suicide: Lawsuit next step in fight against bullying* Bullied to death? Family says they complained repeatedly to school administrators, but nothing changed * School official admits there's a problem after bullying blamed for 2nd student suicide * Bullying blamed for second suicide at Polk County school
The first suicide, that of Copper Basin High School student Patrick Griffin, 18, occurred on March 5. The second, that of Copper Basin student Jazmine Kellie Harris, 13, came on May 15.
On Friday, Jazmine's mother, Angel Harris, filed a $300,000 lawsuit against the Polk County Board of Education alleging that school system staff and officials knew her daughter was being bullied and did not take appropriate action to protect her. Harris told reporters it is her responsibility to take action to protect other children who suffer from bullying.
"Nothing, especially money, will help us heal," Harris said. "But this lawsuit helps me know that her story can raise awareness and help people by bringing change."
Friends and relatives of both Griffin and Harris have told Times Free Press reporters that the two were bullied because they were different and wouldn't fight back. Patrick was smart and the year before someone at the school had started a rumor that he had threatened to bomb the band room. "Bullying by students is what led to his decision, and the administration does not care. ... They turn a blind eye to it," said his mother.
Jazmine's friends said she was was tormented in the halls by at least 25 teens who called her vile names, as well as "fat-a--" and "worthless."
According to the lawsuit, in February a student expressed to Jazmine she "was worthless and should kill herself because nobody would care anyways." Her mother complained to the school principal, David Turner, about the name-calling and terrible suggestion. Turner's response was to tell Jazmine and her mother that Jazmine should remove her small diamond stud nose piercing, the suit claims.
In April, after more name calling and an incident in which a boy kicked Jazmine in the knee (and a few weeks after the first student suicide), Harris said she went to Jones, who told her he would text Turner to investigate. She said Turner later told her he had investigated and that without witnesses to the bullying, nothing could be done. Of the kick, Harris said Turner told her he would handle the situation by telling the boy Jazmine identified to stay away from her at school. Jones never followed up with her.
After Jazmine died, a student who was on trash pickup assignment with the boy Jazmine identified as the kicking bully told her mother and grandmother that the incident was true. The student claimed to have witnessed it and walked away. The student said school officials knew the two boys were on trash pickup together, but the student said he had not been questioned about the incident.
Parents expect more. School officials should know to demand and do more.
Instead, they too often fall back on the old kids-will-be-kids excuse. Too often, they just shake their heads and move on.
Early this week and after Jazmine became the school's second suicide, Jones said he doesn't think bullying is worse at the Copper Basin school than at other schools, and that officials there take reports of bullying seriously.
So that's the standard? No worse than anywhere else?
"The results may be not be what people think they should be," Jones told a Times Free Press reporter. "But we are not sweeping [bullying] under the rug, that I know of. ... I'm just saying that if we think and know that bullying is going on, we try to help the situation."
Being slightly reactive [rather than fully engaged or, better still, especially proactive] wasn't enough at Copper Basin. And it's not likely to be enough at Signal Mountain or Tyner or Cleveland or anywhere else.
The Tennessee Department of Education has a "State Bullying Compliance Report." It shows that in the 2013-2014 school year, Polk County schools, with about 2,600 students, noted 37 bullying reports and said 20 of those cases indicated bullying. Hamilton County, with about 43,500 students, noted 412 reports and 362 cases indicating bullying.
In Southeast Tennessee, 22 school systems reported 1,121 reports of bullying and 779 cases indicating bullying.
How many more students need to be hurt or emotionally scarred to the point of dying?
Bullying in schools is child abuse. And school officials need to catch on.